China's foreign exchange authority has awarded additional investment quotas totaling US$250 million to two qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII).
The two QFIIs are the Bank of Nova Scotia in Canada and the KBC Financial Products UK Limited, which received investment quotas of US$150 million and US$100 million respectively from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
The Bank of Nova Scotia, established in 1832, is one of the major financial institutions in North America with total asset exceeding US$260 billion. It has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, subsidiary banks in Guangzhou and Chongqing, and holds 4 percent shares of Xi'an City Commercial Bank.
The KBC Financial Products UK Limited is an investment company affiliated to the renowned KBC Bank of Belgium.
The Chinese government launched the QFII pilot program in 2003, allowing foreign institutional investors such as the UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Citigroup Global Markets Limited to engage in the securities business on the Chinese mainland.
Since then, the regulator has been making efforts to improve rules and regulations in a bid to open the stock market wider to foreign investment.
To date, 40 foreign investment institutions have been approved as QFIIs. Up to now, the SAFE has awarded investment quotas totaling US$7.145 billion to QFIIs.
(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2006)